Utility plant under construction at LAX is vital to comfort, function

If all goes well, passengers at Los Angeles International Airport will hardly notice the construction project that excites airport executives as much - or even more - than all of the others now taking place at the airport.

LAX has committed more than $4 billion to construction projects in recent years, including a new international terminal costing more than $1.5 billion, but airport officials say few of them would have been possible without overhauling the way the airport gets its water and heats and cools its buildings.

That's why airport Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey was practically giddy in a recent tour of the new Central Utility Plant, a $438 million project wedged next to a roadway in the middle of the airport's nine terminals. The new building is set for completion in May 2014, and when it's finished, airport officials say, it will have enough capacity each day to pump 97.1 million gallons of water and generate enough electricity to power 9,100 private homes.

Airport officials say they knew that before they could embark on most of their flashier projects - like a more than $220 million overhaul of Delta Air Lines' Terminal 5 - they realized would need a more efficient power plant. The old utility facility, which will soon be demolished, was built in 1961 and much of its equipment is outdated, with replacement parts for much of it unavailable from typical sources.

"This was something we very quickly knew we would need to put in," said Lindsey, who took over LAX operator Los Angeles World Airports in 2007 with a mandate from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to modernize the airport quickly.

Officials say the old building likely should have been replaced a decade sooner - they say utility plants generally last about 40 years - but they note the airport embarked on few projects during a 20-year period that began after the 1984 Olympics. During that period, parts of the infrastructure began to crumble, Lindsey said, while city and airport officials debated how best to improve the facility.

"I think the airport had been caught in a web of confusion about how it would evolve," Lindsey said.

Airport officials say they know travelers care little about how the airport heats its buildings and water and how officials maintain proper lighting. But they also say they know that the new systems will allow them to more efficiently regulate water and air temperature in the terminals to keep passengers comfortable. (Airport employees are a bit more picky; many airline workers have long complained that their offices are too hot or too cold, though officials say they can still regulate temperature fairly well under the old system.)

"The goal is that passengers should have their expectations met," construction project manager Dan McKelvie said. "Our whole goal is to be sort of anonymous."

The project has caused the occasional traffic snarl, mostly because construction managers have had to bring in and install equipment in the middle of an airport that has little down time. Crews have also been busy laying piping below the airport's roadways.

Airport officials say they briefly considered putting the new utility center elsewhere, but decided it was best to place it as close to the terminals as possible.

"We knew it was going to be difficult to squeeze it in here," Lindsey said. "But it was deemed the best option."